Elder Chris Collinsworth, a freshman swingman on the men's basketball team last season, was stabbed in the back in an ambush late Tuesday night, on his mission in Australia.

Elder Collinsworth, currently serving in the Australia Sydney North Mission, had just received a baptismal commitment during an appointment and was walking home with an elder with whom he was on exchanges for the evening, said his mother, Alisa Collinsworth.

Elder Collinsworth was initially blindsided, knocking him to the ground. Elder Collinsworth quickly got up and began "beating the tar" out of his attacker when two other assailants jumped him. One of the men was wielding a knife, and, sometime during the struggle, stabbed Elder Collinsworth in the lower back.

Elder Collinsworth's companion at the time, Elder David Ferguson from Montana, had been left alone by the attackers. Upon seeing the knife, however, Elder Ferguson rushed in to help, wrestling away the knife and helping to get the men off Elder Collinsworth.

By this time, between five and eight men had joined in the beating. One man managed to pull Elder Collinsworth's shirt and tie over his head, choking him. Despite kicking and swinging, Elder Collinsworth was outnumbered and finally went down to the ground where he was kicked and punched repeatedly.

A passing driver, who saw the fight, pulled up to the melee in his car while loudly honking his horn and yelling. This was enough to scare off the assailants, after which the man called the police. Elder Collinsworth took off his tie, wrapping it around Elder Ferguson's severely bleeding hand, as the driver helped the two missionaries get to a hospital.

A CAT scan revealed that the knife wound had missed Elder Collinsworth's major organs, instead slicing through muscle, said Alisa Collinsworth. Elder Ferguson required surgery because of the knife tearing through the ligaments in his hand.

The Collinsworth family was notified of the incident at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, about two hours after the initial attack.

"When the mission president called, he said that the states of Utah and Montana should be proud because those two put up a dang good fight," Elder Collinsworth's mother said. "He said Chris must've had some dang good looks in, because we should've seen his knuckles."

Alisa Collinsworth said her son, who is currently five and a half months into his service, is taking a break in the mission home but is ready to go back out as soon as his mission president allows.

"He's in the mission home hanging out, probably going crazy because he's kind of that way, wanting to get out and do what he needs to do," she said.

U.S. Embassy officials and local police are working to identify the assailants.

"He's not the kind of person to glare at you," Elder Collinsworth's mother said. "He's got a big smile and everyone loves him."

Despite Elder Collinsworth's geniality and zeal for preaching the gospel, his mother said he gave her a message to tell everyone back home.

"Make sure people know I'm not a wimp," Collinsworth reported her son saying. "I didn't lay down and die. We put up a heck of a fight."

Copyright Brigham Young University 16 Oct 2008